Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Buys 27,080 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 443,904 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,080 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $26,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,158,123,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at $161,425,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth $129,348,000. Front Street Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth $90,581,000. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at $90,605,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $56.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.12 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $34.60 and a 1 year high of $72.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 13.50% and a net margin of 16.05%. The company had revenue of $291.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.0850 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 33.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Cognex from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.57.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation develops machine vision and industrial identification technologies that help manufacturers and businesses automate inspection, measurement, guidance, and tracking processes. Its systems use cameras, sensors, software, and artificial intelligence to analyze images and identify products, defects, components, and other objects.

The company’s product portfolio includes vision systems, industrial cameras, vision sensors, barcode readers, optical character recognition tools, three-dimensional vision systems, and machine vision software.